Polling places lack access

Giving disabled voters access to polling places was the first goal of the Handicapped Services Commission that former chairman Jerry LeBlanc helped establish in Waltham in 1986.

Eighteen years later, one-third of the city's polling sites still do not meet state requirements for handicapped access. Throughout the region, many school buildings, churches, and libraries used on Election Day lack proper ramps, parking, and entryways.

''It's shocking to me," said LeBlanc, 68, who has muscular dystrophy and has used a wheelchair for 20 years. ''I'm surprised the towns are allowing it."

Access for the disabled at polling places is a statewide problem, with a new government survey finding that 60 percent of the 1,488 voting locations in Massachusetts do not fully comply with state law.

A look at what the survey found at polling places in the Globe West circulation area. Page 14.

Voting facilities in the western suburbs are far more hospitable to the disabled, according to the survey, conducted by the state Office on Disability. In the Globe West coverage area, 61 percent of polling locations are fully accessible.

But dozens of polling sites in the region still are not fully accessible. Eleven communities, including Wayland, Wrentham, and Medfield, have no polling spot that fully complies with state guidelines, the survey showed.

The results have sent local officials scrambling to construct temporary ramps, add handicapped parking spaces, and improve signs at public facilities. If they fail to complete the projects by Nov. 2, they could face unspecified penalties from the state attorney general, said Brian McNiff, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

''Some municipalities have a lot of work to do," said Myra Berloff, director of the Office on Disability.

The agency released the survey results on Aug. 30 after spending eight months touring voting sites with checklists, rulers, and levels. It was the first authoritative review ever conducted in the state, Berloff said, but criticisms about inaccessible polling places come every election.

Many of the violations are minor, requiring small and inexpensive repairs. In Natick, officials have already corrected the town's two deficient polling locations -- by leveling a walkway at Kennedy Middle School on Mill Street and posting a handicapped van parking sign at the Cole Recreational Building on Boden Lane, said Town Administrator Philip E. Lemnios.

In Watertown, where the state found violations in six of eight voting sites, the town has moved three precincts from a church with a steep walkway to the Hellenic Cultural Center on Bigelow Avenue, said John E. Flynn, the town clerk.

But several communities face more substantial work, and many will not be ready for Tuesday's primaries.

To allow easy wheelchair access, Newton must widen a pathway at the Horace Mann School, a project that will require moving a retaining wall. At Newton North High School, the city must build a temporary ramp.

''Some of [the violations] were a little more involved," said Peter Karg, executive secretary of the Newton Election Commission. ''We will be in full compliance."

The survey faulted Framingham for violations in half of its 10 voting locations. At the Joseph P. Keefe Regional Vocational Technical School, inspectors found an entryway with three steps and a ramp with no handrails.

Framingham Town Clerk Valerie Mulvey said students would help undertake repairs, and a temporary ramp will be donated by American Ramp Systems in South Boston. The work, she said, will not be ready by Tuesday.

But Mulvey said her office had never heard from a disabled voter about the impediments.

''Nobody has ever complained," she said. ''They're not glaringly noticeable."

Come Tuesday, obstacles will remain elsewhere, too.

Disabled voters at the H. Olive Day School in Norfolk will once again have to pass over a 1-inch metal strip in the doorway, said Town Clerk Marie Chiofolo. And in Millis, voters at the Veterans' Memorial Building on Main Street will not get van parking or a level walkway until November.

Adhering to the law is a bit more complicated in Shrewsbury, where the state found violations at two private facilities the town uses on Election Day. While officials can easily post proper signs in the Town Hall parking lot, they have little authority over missing handrails at the Frohsinn Club and the Scandinavian Athletic Club, which provide rent-free space.

''It's always more difficult if we don't have control of the building," said Town Clerk Ann M. Dagle. ''It's also difficult to find a place for voting."

The survey results, said Paul Spooner, executive director of the MetroWest Center for Independent Living in Framingham, an advocacy and disability support center, are disappointing but not unexpected.

''It really didn't surprise me," he said. ''People with disabilities -- their rights are still in a quagmire."

For the disabled, stricter laws enacted last summer and increased scrutiny have been a long time coming. Advocates say the disabled have voted in low numbers despite political concerns, including handicapped parking, employment, and higher pay for their publicly funded caretakers.

''There are huge public policy decisions," said Jeffrey Keilson, former regional director for the state Department of Mental Retardation. ''All levels of government are making decisions on how much of taxpayer dollars are going to support people with disabilities."

The disabled already face significant challenges during election years, advocates say. Many do not have access to registration materials or transportation to the polls.

Advocates Inc., a social service agency in Framingham, has long encouraged the use of absentee ballots for the disabled, after years of hearing complaints about inaccessible polling sites.

''We've worked around the situation," said William J. Taylor, president of Advocates. But, he said, ''something so basic as voting should be accessible to everyone."

Benjamin Gedan can be reached at gedan@globe.com.